/lit/ - Literature

Ick. Someone needs to clean that shelf.

Would that cat be considered “black coded” to modern sensibilities (or lack thereof)?

>>23084744
No, because the cat, despite having an outward appearance which implies Blackness, is clearly acting in an orderly manner and following the rules of traversal set by the library.
A Black coded character would attempt to tear down the shelves and put up a new system of traversal, one not bound by rules.

>>23084646
Can /wg/ try to finish the story these schizo started in /wwoym/?
>>23081275
>>23082119

around were the teeth of abortion mills and their furred saliva, buzzing in the wind. The hikers boots yelped for concrete, anything flat. his sweaty legs like a marraige of honey glazed stoats on a boatmans skewer. There now a thumping in the carry of the valley, echoing from his aspirating center. The hikers boots came heel up again to floss their tread. From the cleavage in some bushes came a furry boulder, there the hikers boots kipped up against to check their reflection in the spider lace lain below the moss. Later, the hikers boots had a start as a great brown beast trumpeted down from above- but they were off again as soon as the hiker pulled his pants.

>>23084409
>>23084379
your narration wasn't too bad. what do you have in mind for this?

Good evening sirs,
I would likened to know how is to writing great fantasy fiction likened to Harold Potter and The Games of Thrones.
Kind regards,
Bill Williams

>>23084812
I plan on making a grand space opera starting first in a cyberpunk city where galactic superheroes fight galactic villains pirates, worlds are unique from each other and an episodic light hearted adventure that culminates into a final battle like in a JRPG against the Extinction Master which is my version of galactus from marvel. That's my endgame. I'm don't think I will be able to finish it.

>>23084770
this is why they complain about orcs but not about dark elves. although usually evil, dark elves are always advanced or cultured or learned in magic or something. orcs on the other hand, despite being green and demon-faced monsters that dont look human at all, act just like niggers, and so people know they are coded for niggers without them having to look like one. its a funny little thing ive noticed about lefties

I can't believe my writing was so bad people here thought I was trolling. I've lurked these threads for years. I've never seen anyone get such a bad reaction. Fuck.

>>23084836
That sounds retarded

>>23084854
There's still time.

>>23084854
What did you write? Was it on its own thread or in a /wg/?

>>23084861
why

>>23084861
>>23084861
Why do you think that is the case? Explain

>>23084864
I don't think so.
>>23084869
Doesn't matter. I've already deleted it all. Maybe I just don't have it in me I guess...

>>23084836
Sounds cool anon. Just be sure to polish your writing skills before going full steam into a massive project like that, last thing you want is to have major reform in a second draft of something so grand. Maybe practice writing prequel or side stories, even if they're just for your own knowledge of your characters and setting.

>>23084885
>Doesn't matter. I've already deleted it all. Maybe I just don't have it in me I guess...
Don't get discouraged, anon. There are a lot of other factors, for example, maybe you were writing in a manner inconsistent with your inner voice and that caused it to become stilted. You need to read and write a lot to make it anywhere. I'm still shit at writing, so I practice and post short shitpost stories on /lit/ from time to time. It doesn't matter if people think it's shit if it is indeed a shitpost.

>>23084877
>>23084870
the themes of superheroes (utopian) dont convene wifh cyberpunk (dystopian)

>>23084812
You have the right idea making it a novel but even genre furshit is a hard sell in spite of the potential, at the best of times, and doesn't even perform well in its own niche, barring certain caveats you should already know nerus. It was rightfully stigma'd hard and you're writing within that even though you're trying not to and taking it back to the hard sci fi the oldfags know.

That said, I didn't mind your narrative voice once I realized he's a fox and found something appropriately slutty to narrate with lel. The premise is familiar, I think I played Backbone and it got renamed recently. I don't even know if you need that much lore and backstory, which wasn't much and didn't suffer from too much SF bloat and infodumps. Just make sure you aren't making the talking animals purely to get your rocks off and you'll have a dedicated audience and a publishing house or two to sell a few thousand copies through.

>>23084918
The cyberpunk thing is only going to last one chapter and after that it's outerspace superheroing

I find I use a lot of filler words when writing. Mostly in an attempt to make my writing "poetic". How do I avoid this? How do you tell the difference and draw the line between prose and poem. Would you save the metaphors for more emotional scenes?

tldr; how do you find a balance between vivid imagery and concise expression.

Why can't pseuds and slop lords coexist?

>>23084836
alright, yea. do you think you could also have your characters level up?

>>23084854
i want to read it now. please, anon.

My writing was so amazing and unassailable that when I posted it nobody replied, not a single person. Feels good man

>>23084910
>>23084930
I've been writing for a while and I've just had a noticeable decline in quality I think. Even I can see it. My actual IQ has plummeted since I was in highschool. I feel like flowers for algernon. I've become much less creative too in every way. I struggle to even consume any media at all. But the same desire to write is still there.
>>23081760
>>23082886

My writing was so non-descript and mid that I got several replies. I am indifferent.

Is there a genre that's an infinite money cheat code? I want money

>>23084955
lit fic

>>23084646
This a blueboard. As much as the last time I tried for a ban and failed I'm not in the mood to test the waters again.
>>23084955
Whatever sells to white suburban soccer moms and single women

>>23084955
litrpg on royalroad
we should put a guide about quick money making on RR in the OP since so many people ask this fucking question

>>23084925
have you been reading novels? do you have a good grasp of storytelling?

>>23084937
>>23084798
same
>>23084925
>How do I avoid this?
Dont
make your writing your own and unique
the fun of writing is that u can try all sorts of words together and see how it feels
despite what some will say, writing is not about trying to distill a message into as simple and potent terms as can be done

>>23084925
writing is about trying to distill a message into as simple and potent terms as can be done

>>23084942
I think the story itself is cool and I see where you are going with your voice. It's laconic and kind of dark, which fits the story so far.
A couple questions and comments:

Is there a particular reason you went with Present tense?
Also, try to get more mixed cadence with your sentences. Writing concise statements is fine, but if the flow of it is too even, if there are no compound or complex sentences to break up the simple sentences, it will drive people crazy. I'm guessing that is a big reason for the criticism. If you work on your style, this has potential in my opinion. Mix up your cadence and don't be afraid to throw some literary flair in every once in a while.

>>23084942
You need to connect your sentences with commas, because it will improve your writing a lot. I'm not sure exactly why they were homing in on your prose being too "flowery," because it seemed fairly normal to me.
Here's an example of a good paragraph:
>The weary lines on Yurias face stretch into a forced smile like a father and commander. "Youre going to be alright. Im going to help you." The man on the ground finally begins to find himself here in the dirt and dry grass. His eyes are free of whatever demon fouled them and his fever begins to pass. He stares into Yurias eyes. Tired and strong. He finds his resolve.
You have some typos but it's fine as is, and you could improve it with some tasteful commas. Here's something that could be rewritten:
>A small tent sways in the morning breeze. Enough for a family of four but no more. It wavers on the steppe. Boundless and slipping into the dream. The fresh sunlight makes the shadows dance inside.
As:
>A small tent sways in the morning breeze— enough for a family of four but no more. It wavers on the steppe, boundless and slipping into the dream, as fresh sunlight makes the shadows dance inside.
This is much improved with very few changes. and it keeps the reader engaged in one single thought.

You have potential, you just have to improve your flow.

>>23084980

>>23084972
Can you confirm it works?

>>23084955
I liek money

>>23085000
I now have $3.50 in my bank account, so year, it’s made me rich.

>>23085005
Dude same

>>23085000
look for yourself idiot
https://www.royalroad.com/fictions/weekly-popular
look at their patreons and how many members they have

>>23085016
$3.50 doesn't seem like a lot of money, is that considered the upper limit for writing?

>>23085023
Yes

>>23085020
Jesus fucking christ. Is that people are reading these days?

>>23085020
Just because a handful of people can do it doesn't mean it's the easiest way, otherwise the same argument could be applied for any genre by sorting for 'best sellers' on Amazon

(you retard)

>>23085026
Really?

>>23085032
Most people who can technically read, can barely read. Books haven't been for the elite in at least a century.

>>23085041
Yes

>>23085032
yes. if you want to get rich writing then get ready to sacrifice any sort of dignity you have. I, however, will resent you for eternity
>>23085035
an anon here has said he managed to get on rising stars across several accounts or something. im not sure if hes still around but he can vouch that its easy getting a following if you play your cards right. its not hard

>>23085020
>those titles
holy fuck I'm doing it all wrong

>>23084955
This is at least less shameful to ask than the anons that come to /lit/ because they think it will get them laid.

To answer your question, try going to a big box store book section and see what they sell. Like Walmart if you have one. A lot of it is various types of romance, fantasy, lit fic, and contemporary fiction with more specific trends. Not to mention all the non-fiction. Books with really strong comp-titles/ high concept is what gets attention. For example, a few years ago the novel "Mexican Gothic" was in a lot of stores. That kind of high concept is total clickbait to the average reader who will say "I like one or both of these things, I can't believe this is a book!" And then she buys it. Went NYT best seller for 2 months thanks to that.

>>23085058
>This is at least less shameful to ask than the anons that come to /lit/ because they think it will get them laid.
whats shameful about that

>>23085051
>Most people who can technically read, can barely read. Books haven't been for the elite in at least a century.
I've noticed this more and more over the past few years
>>23085054
>yes. if you want to get rich writing then get ready to sacrifice any sort of dignity you have.
Yeah no, I might write some low browish shit, I'm not stooping to that level
>I, however, will resent you for eternity
Don't worry I have some dignity. but it's fun writing about desecrating both live and dead bodies. So it might be a late for me at this point

>>23085058
Yeah, but my question isn't what sells best, it's what's easiest for ANYONE to write that'll sell. The cheat code. Literally anything written at a high enough level will sell amazingly, but I don't have the ego to think I could be the next Brandon Sanderson if I tried--and the median epic fantasy doesn't seem like it sells well.

>>23085058
>That kind of high concept is total clickbait to the average reader who will say "I like one or both of these things, I can't believe this is a book!" And then she buys it. Went NYT best seller for 2 months thanks to that.
Society was a mistake.

>>23085054
>if you want to get rich writing then sacrifice your dignity
Is this even accurate? The most lucrative authors seem to be people like Stephen King, Brandon Sanderson, Nora Roberts, etc, not the 'slop writers' like litrpg and erotica. Or do you consider any and all non literary fiction 'selling your dignity'?

>>23085074

>>23085090
>Or do you consider any and all non literary fiction 'selling your dignity'?
not him but yes

>>23085080
>I've noticed this more and more over the past few years
It was like that since the 30s, and not the one you're thinking of, but what was left for them after comics, movies, radio, and tv took all the talent has shown what total dregs are entertained by.

>>23085097
In that case, you're just one of 4chan's infamous fat neckbeard virgin pseuds, so I don't care much about your opinion. Next!

>>23085103
kek gottem

>>23085090
>Or do you consider any and all non literary fiction 'selling your dignity'?
We all have a price but offering an around the world for less than you get for some rope play if you know what you're doing at all is just being a cheap whole.

>>23085107
I don't speak schizo, sorry. Translate?

>>23085107
>a cheap whole
>cheap whole
>whole
how is /lit/ the most illiterate board

AT FIRST I HESITATED. WHAT AM I DOING? WHAT WILL I DO? I THOUGHT ABOUT HOW MEN MUST BE MORE MATURE BECAUSE THEY must MANAGE ALL THEIR SEXUAL FRUSTRATIONS. LIKE ME NOW, SPLAYED ON THE COUCH, MY MIND PLAYING. ALCOHOL RUNNING THE RAPIDS INTO FIERY PLACES WHERE WE TOUCH..
I CALL ROOS. OUR CONVERSATION LASTS 30 SECONDS. I MUST HAVE SOUNDED BASHFUL ON THE PHONE, MUSIC BLARING DOWNSTREAM AS I WISHED HIM A HAPPY NIGHT, PATHETICALLY. I WILL ALWAYS HANG ONTO THOSE WORDS IN THE BATHROOM : YOU LOOK LIKE A SCULPTURE. TO PLAY MYSELF UP. IN HIS EYES. IN HIS FACE. NEVERMIND, ROOS, NOT TONIGHT.
I CATATONICISE FOR MANY MINUTES AND SLEEP EVEN, PEACEFULLY TO THE ROCK OF THE MUSIC. THEN I SPRING TO LIFE SUCH AS PRINTEMPS, I STILL HAVE FREE WILL! I CRAWL TO HELL, THE BATHROOM. I LOOK FOR A CONDOM. Where is it?
THE HAIRSPRAY WILL DO FOR A MAN, THE GREAT BIG MAN OF MY DREAMS. AT FIRST I HESITATED. WHAT AM I DOING?
THEN IT SPRANG FORTH AS A GAME TO KILL MY PAIN. HOW MUCH OF HIM CAN I FIT INSIDE OF ME? CREATURE ME, WIRY PORTAL OF DESIRE, PURE MASCULINE DESIRE IS MINE. SHOVE THAT WANT INTO MYSELF, WEAK AND VEHICLE. I PASSED THE CAP, THE HAIRSPRAY WAS WELL INSIDE OF ME, HER. SHE’S FUCKING HERSELF!

HELP!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My heart thuds up into my ear. Du dum. Du dum. Over minutes, it beats me back into my old shape, only better.

>>23085119
I was thinking whore and hole and couldn't split the difference, get raped.

>>23085135
No, I don't think I will. Niggerfaggot.

only lit fic will do and i dont care whaf you call me

>>23085144
based is what you are.

>>23085144
I think losing the respect of the stereotypical 4channer is actually something a person should strive for

>>23085148
r*ddit is dying from their anti-gatekeeping rhetoric, feel free to post there exclusively.

>>23085090
>do you consider any and all non literary fiction 'selling your dignity'?
No
I consider appealing to the lowest "selling your dignity". Litrpg on royalroad has reduced storytelling to just telling what happens rather than creating an experience because that requires talent from the author and effort from the reader. im assuming that anon wanted to get money fast and to do that, you have to write a story that isnt challenging in the slightest

>>23085148
This, but the complete opposite. Normoid opinions mean nothing to me, I only want the approval of people who post cartoon frogs on the internet.

>>23085152
No thanks, I like posting here and just shunning the embarrassing anti-socials who find pride in their sad existence (they're different from all the normies, at least!)

>>23085168
that's pretty gay but ok

>>23085172
See >>23085148

>have to learn to write and act commedia dell'arte just to do some faggy interludes
Why did I pick something so aesthetic just to make a dumb point?

>>23085174
mission accomplished, faggarino

>>23085189
Excellent. How's life going for you? LMAO

>>23085193
My depressing and sardonic litfic is getting great feeback from proofreaders and chapters go over well during readings. About as well as one could hope.

>>23085184
I know you're going through a lot, but just know: you did this to yourself.

>>23085193
>Excellent. How's life going for you? LMAO
Well, I have my own house, a car, a career, and a girl I bang every other weekend. So pretty decent, all things considered. You?

>>23085206
>every other weekend
bro is in a polycule
still better than most of us

>>23085203
I don't even like reading plays, worse when they're in verse, I should scrap it but I feel compelled.

>>23085206
I t s weird to me that people measure success like this because nothing of this anons life sounds appealing

>>23085213
sex is gay

>>23085213
>bro is in a polycule
Nah she's just a divorcee and "doesn't want to submit to another man in a relationship ever again", it works for my schedule.
>>23085225
Well I'm glad your parents' basement is comfortable, at least. You probably can't even hear them crying at night.

>>23085225
It's how a normie measures success, which is weird, because he was the one calling normies bad? Kinda dissonant
Personally I want success in some more significant and meaningful way

>>23085233
no, that's you that you're thinking of

>>23085238
>taking offense because someone wants something different from life than you
Uh alright. I didn't even say anything bad about you.

>>23085248
>no u
mOst lITerate bOard

>>23085253
>doen't want to own real estate, have self reliant transportation and would rather depend on the government, is either unemployed and living off said government or has unsteady gig employment, eh the girl part is optional
You're 3/4 of a fag, 4/4 because you denied some hole as well.

>>23085261
Why do you even care

So this is what the average pseud poster is like. I feel so validated right now.

>>23085263
A man with no ambition is going to write nothing worth reading nor have a worthwhile opinion on writing and therefore has even less place in these threads than the webnovel shitters.

>>23085261
Dude, the insecurity is absolutely dripping from your posts, relax

>this bent out of shape because someone told him pussy isnt the end all be all of life

>>23085265
>I fucking LOVE the smell of my own farts
k keep me posted

>>23085266
I don't have no ambition. You seem very insecure.

>>23085273
>double negative
Are you the anon who posted >>23084942
Because I'd believe it.

>>23085271
What? That's a pseud trait, I don't think highly of myself at all. I just think you're the person I want to be least in life and I'm not afraid to say it, LMAO. Calls normies bad, has a normie life and no success, has a hard on for his own writing skills though will never see any success. Responds with massive insecurity to everyone who replies to me. Holy christ, this is exactly what I meant when I said 4chan pseuds are who I want to lose the respect of

What the hell is this discussion? Can we get back to writing and some of you guys add a third act to these two:
>>23081275
>>23082119
I want to see three anons finish a story in three acts. It is interesting to examine how each anon's worldview and emotions shapes a single narrative.
Even if you only write shitposts, do it for the lulz PLZZZ

>>23085277
*replies to him, I typed fast

What? poop That's poop a poop pseud poop trait, I poop don't poop think poop highly poop of poop myself poop at poop all. I poop just poop think poop you're poop the poop person poop I poop want poop to poop be poop least poop in poop life poop and poop I'm poop not poop afraid poop to poop say poop it, poop LMAO. Calls poop normies poop bad, poop has poop a poop normie poop life poop and poop no poop success, poop has poop a poop hard poop on poop for poop his poop own poop writing poop skills poop though poop will poop never poop see poop any poop success. Poop Responds poop with poop massive poop insecurity poop to poop everyone poop who poop replies poop to poop me. Holy poop christ, poop this pooo is poop exactly what poop I poop meant poop when poop I poop said poop 4chan poop pseuds poop are poop who poop I poop want poop to poop lose poop the poop respect poop of poop

>>23085082
To write on Royal Road you have to churn out chapters at an incredible rate. You might be able to write slop, but can you do 5k words a day for months on end? Most people burn out trying.

>>23085277
>>23085280
More than one person is replying to you, you no-life faggot. Reddit really would suit you better.

I can't emphasize this enough, but based on the responses I'm getting from the multiple pseud posters, I feel so validated. Keep it coming. Solidy my belief system

>>23085300
Isn't the standard 3 to 5 chapters at 2k words each? That's a lot but 6k a week isn't 35k a week lol

>>23085314
>Solidy

>>23085327
I'm typing fast because it's a shitpost forum. Do you actually neurotically spellcheck your posts? Yikes!

>>23085320
Every day was an exaggeration. But you do have to stockpile extra chapters if you want to lure impatient people to your patreon.

>>23084918
god forbid anyone attempt something original

>>23085342
His concept is popular thing word salad

>>23085341
Getting a backlog built sounds like it might be a headache, but 6-10k a week doesn't seem that hard to do when it's low-effort content

>>23085216
If you don't appreciate those classic tropes and dumb gags then don't bother. Your work will have the stock names but not the spirit.

Personally I think everyone in this thread is pathetic, pseuds and slop posters alike

>>23085354
If you can do it, do it. But maybe go for a month or two before posting to see if you can keep it up. Also write an outline so you don't write yourself into a dead end. There's no second draft for serial posting so you gotta plan ahead as much as possible.

>>23085336
>shitpost forum
no, trolling is against /lit/ rules

>>23085358
I really do and it would fit amazingly but I don't like /reading/ plays and narrating physical comedy is just...not great even when done well. It's about all the dumb, meanspirited bits and stock dialogues and games we play. I'm going to end up doing it, but this thing has already got me brushing up on 60s pop psychology and the bible.

>>23085368
Have you seen the state of these threads? Of any /lit/ thread? This is a shitposting forum. I refuse to believe any of this excrement is posted in good faith

>>23085381
i provide expert writing advice

>>23085394
thank you anon

>>23084926
Someone please answer I don't like it when mom and dad fight

>>23085440
Because their values are at odds?

>>23085440
>>23084926
I'm a lit fic anon (aka a pseud) and I am okay with whatever you all want to write, as well as if you want to make fun of each other for it. But genre fiction authors can achieve great stories, though some of the finer details can go underappreciated.

>>23085440
Slop lords have big cocks, expensive houses, and dumb bimbo wives who married them for their money. Beta cuck pseuds are mad at them for their luxurious lifestyle and lash out in response. Hope this clears things up.

genreslop is necessarily bad since u have to take time inventing details for a made up setting
this also creates problems since all these details have to be integrated (hint just keeping ur setting in reality does this automatically)

>>23085440
It's like when the cumskulls were kicked out of the old writing threads and genre aspirants tread lightly or stuck to /sff/ or its precursors. Webnovels aren't even on topic for the board and threads on them are pruned. I don't believe that it's on topic for /lit/, or literature in any meaningful sense, and even if it is, do you really want what it invites?

>To what extent should one caricature or exaggerate the qualities of a person or event in fiction in order to exemplify it and bring those qualities to light without them seeming crass?
vs.
>Should I have sex scenes or "fade to black" in my progression novel?
Even the hacks writing genre fiction have something more meaningful they do with characters and better questions than that.

>>23085494
Fantasy is pretty much banned by name from most workshops while everything but outright porn isn't. That should tell you how much worse the derivatives are.

>>23085503
Source: I made it the fuck up

>>23085485
Eudora Welty wrote a great essay on the importance of setting in fiction. It's something that authors can overcome with time when inventing fantasy or other speculative settings, but it's true that a reader going into a new setting has so few expectations on it that the story can start weak. Once that world is more established in fiction or even tropes, it can be easier for a reader to settle in from the beginnings.
For fiction that incorporates real settings, these immediately invoke images that were not even described in the book, people and music, history and more. There are so many benefits that contribute to the story. I think even if you invoke aspects of real settings, such as pyramids in a fictional desert, a fantasy author might get some of this benefit, but not all of it.

>>23085504
No one wants to deal with the autistic fixation on worldbuilding. If someone were writing the next Little, Big maybe there would be something other than revulsion at the thought of being forced to read excerpts from another juvenile epic fantasy, but that's never the case. SFF has its own writer's circles.

>>23085485
>this also creates problems since all these details have to be integrated (hint just keeping ur setting in reality does this automatically)
Is it though? You can both keep things in reality and still come off a bit autistic-sounding and I'm not sure this is decent writing or not.

Is there any writing general for genrefic

>>23085512
thx for rec

>>23085504
There's a local publishing house in my area that outright will not publish or workshop with fantasy, sci-fi, or horror writers. They only support writers who write in the context of this region, to preserve heritage.

>>23085530
Did you ever read what they call Science Fiction? It’s a scream. It is written like this: “I checked out with K19 on Aldabaran III, and stepped out through the crummalite hatch on my 22 Model Sirus Hardtop. I cocked the timejector in secondary and waded through the bright blue manda grass. My breath froze into pink pretzels. I flicked on the heat bars and the Brylls ran swiftly on five legs using their other two to send out crylon vibrations. The pressure was almost unbearable, but I caught the range on my wrist computer through the transparent cysicites. I pressed the trigger. The thin violet glow was icecold against the rust-colored mountains. The Brylls shrank to half an inch long and I worked fast stepping on them with the poltex. But it wasn’t enough. The sudden brightness swung me around and the Fourth Moon had already risen. I had exactly four seconds to hot up the disintegrator and Google4 had told me it wasn’t enough. He was right.”

They pay brisk money for this crap?

>>23085552
>most workshops ban fantasy
>source: there's a single local publishing house in bumfuck nowhere that does
Okay you complete absolute fucking retard. Not even a genre defender, but you won the dumbshit poster award today, any words for your family?

How popular are western isekai wish-fulfillment WNs?

>>23085561
I guess I should have told that I'm NTA.
I was merely giving you some anecdotal evidence that there is a reason that certain genres are not treated the same way. I'm sure you can find a workshop for whatever you write.

But it's fun to worldbuild and create settings, not to mention easier for me to do than to actually write stories. I mostly read genre fiction so I like fantasy and sci fi more than high brow literary fiction.

>>23085564
Not mainstream at all (despite what posters on this thread would suggest), but it has an extremely devoted niche audience. See RoyalRoad. Probably half of the existing >5k/month writing patreons are western isekai wish fullfilment

>>23085571
I'll also stop sperging out since you responded level-headed.
But saying fantasy is banned in 'most' workshops is a 'dumb post of the day' award. Completely ridiculous claim.

>>23085572
This exactly. Sci Fi, fantasy, and horror are flatout better than 95% of set piece anthology and 100% better than any of it produced after 2000s.

is there a lit fic writing general

>>23085584
Actually now that I think about it, Writing Excuses (Brandon Sanderson's podcast) used to run a luxury cruise - writing workshop for years. Fantasy was definitely on the menu there. I don't think they do it anymore, but still.

My favorite literary fiction is Brandon Sanderson's "The Way of Kings"

>>23085575
Cool

Isekai slop is a damning drug coursing through my veins and so forth every story of mine is an isekai and harem as well,
instead of plaguing isek/a/i since I hear I may be not outright expelled here,
how do I settle on writing a specific story (force myself but not to burnout degree)
and also in attentionwhoring aspect which story idea I should focus on:
>monster girl harem with monster civ building (no dwarves/elfs involved)
>gamer gets transmigated into magic slop academy vidya as villain character, changes the storyline before it even happened so dimensional rift transmigates invites MGR and Deltarune schizo bosses and alike to actually threaten and challenge MC
>shoelacer "betrayal" joke setup leans on exploring the hunting world while gathering materials for smithing, MC has to tame an archetype harem of Eris'es x2, has also isekaijin inside later to become a stand while other isekaijins turned native's souls into raging stands
>a family in chaos of civil war ensuring is hit full force with a truck, 4 main cast reincarnated, dad as beast man, mother as genocidal (to be fixed later) saintess, bitch of an older sister as mythical dragon and main focus on son as a skeleton, son being main interest with focus on autism more akin to machine for normalfags and pseudo social designation of an irredeemable monster compared to individual herofagging of MC,
>antivoid realm, everything is within the reach, first major arc is Dead Space Ishimura while medieval magic castles, steampunk and biopunk still fits nicely,
I feel like I have crossed the acceptable slop limit in this kind of speak,
but I need at least some kind of advice or comforting little attention so I can at least publish anything and feel accomplished of at least doing a thing which I desperately need

>>23085603
Workshops are run by people. Normies. Fantasy, horror, and speculative fiction in general is enormously popular. I would even say most workshop entries are spec fic. Lit fic is also obviously popular, but it's silly to say workshops are only lit fic. You have to be detached from reality to think that

>>23085608
Not really

>>23085557
>They pay brisk money for this crap?
They did in 1955. Not anymore.

>>23085601
Yeah, it's called /wg/, we just have an unfortunate infestation. Ignore them.

>>23085601
No, but me and another lit fic anon email to keep in touch. Still need to find that third one that's writing about the relationship with a girl which gradually changes his perception of reality.

>>23085635
thats me xD

>>23085614
I mean you don’t necessarily have to settle with a choice if you are passionate about it. Some people on royalroad have multiple ongoing reincarnation stories

What do people here think about wuxia and xianxia chinese webnovels? Probably not very highly of them.

>>23085635
I even went location scouting and almost broke my film off the spool being a cheap bastard. 56 on a roll of 24 is my new record.

>>23085614
Or just kill yourself here and now. While Bravo on persuing writing, isekai needs wiped from the earth

>>23085557
I know there are worse written books but I don't think reality makes for better writing.

>>23085614
Dude I write isekai slop for a living and I barely understood this post. You might have gone too deep, brother
Write what you want, though. The hard part is learning how to write well. Even slop has elements that need to be executed well. There's a reason 98% of it dies with no audience
So just get writing and accruing practice hours. Your first story won't make it big
Well, probably. Temper your expectations

Anyone convinced that they will never "make it" as an author in terms of making money from it, I have a normal wagie job that I work weekdays doing. I just feel like I have the NEED to write. Like I have this urge to put books/novels out there. Even if they don't sell.

Does this make sense? Or am I just wasting my time

>>23085661
They might be bad, but the translations are always terrible. Xianxia is a fun film genre though. China shits out lots of TV shows and movies.

>>23085661
I can't stand machine translation, but I liked Cradle. The general setting appeals to me too. It seems like a more elegant way of having discrete power levels like in LitRPG, but without the autism of 'leveling up'. That said I like more litrpg stories than cultivation, probably because it's not machine translated

>>23085687
cultivate that need
my writing makes me feel impervious to the pettyness of life

>>23085687
I'm in a similar work situation but I'm pretty sure I'm gonna make it. I don't care if I become famous, I just want to write good books and get some readers. To me, that's making it. Be realistic, but don't talk yourself out of getting a book out there.

>>23085687
It depends on what you write, but if you write marketable stuff, then it's not out of the question. I'm a /wg/ regular and I made it, but I write slop, so I can't reassure you if you write high-brow stuff. (Way harder to break into, I bet no 4chan regular has ever 'made it' in lit fic.)
But if you have an urge to write novels, write novels. Why does money have to come into it? For me, I just really didn't want to keep working wagie jobs, and so I purposefully pursued profit-oriented writing. But if you're fine with a normal job and writing on the side, don't even worry about marketability.

>>23085642
>>23085662
So you're the other lit anon then? Want to stay in touch or no?

>>23085726
emails chains are kinda gey, don't you think?

>>23085732
I have an email chain with a friend that we've kept up for almost 20 years now.

>>23085656
I still have would want to finish one so I'll have to pick one, thing is I can't decide yet, I like them all,
also I forgot to ask any major alternatives to royalroad that allow mingled chapters explicit smut?
>>23085683
>The hard part is learning how to write well.
exact problem of mine, I treasure quality above all, so that left me before with one page I delete anyway for a month and now I'm altering between draft styles of
>whatever is on my mind
>semi-redacted
>redacted to publishing point

>>23085732
They are. I mean there's either GoodReads, or just hope you stick around on /wg/. Whatever the case, I'm not going anywhere. But I don't post here every day.
Whatever the case, I do hope to read your work at some point.

>>23085726
Include me in ur emailz!
snarfrt@gmail

>>23085736
I recommend just working on finishing a complete story arc for whatever web serial premise you choose. I was the same way, I wrote probably ~600k of various premises before I finally forced myself to stick with one. The good news I suppose is that when I finally did, I had enough words under my belt that my first public-facing story pretty instantly became popular. I'd gotten good at writing a first chapter that hooked the reader, and how to write digestible prose.
Not even getting past 1 page is pretty bad though, just pick a premise and write

>>23085714
>I bet no 4chan regular has ever 'made it' in lit fic.
I know two or three got a second novel, though I didn't care for anything they wrote. I have good reason to believe a few real old school anons were already midlist and 'famous' in some capacity, but wanted desperately to remain anon because the reddit treatment is pretty lame and the other oldschool forums that were more like a local hangout are mostly dead.

>>23085683
What’s your isekai about? If you are shy about exposing it here just give a general idea/themes/harem

>>23085754
I suppose 4chan is a pretty big place, so maybe some have. Getting published or even published twice isn't that much of a marker of success though. Something like 95% of published authors make less than 100 sales. I forget the exact statistics, but they're grim. I meant success as in you have an actual significant readerbase

>>23085753
will do, thanks Anon

>>23085759
I'm not shy, rather, associating with 4chan can be career suicide. (Though Trailer Trash Anon wasn't afraid to, I suppose. Don't think I've seen him here in a long while though.)
I've already said I make a living wage, which narrows me down to a fairly small group of writers, so being specific could lead to people tracking me down. And anons are definitely weird enough to try.
But in general strokes, it's slop, like I said. LitRPG. Adventure, action, a focus on progression--like any litrpg. The specifics don't especially matter.

>>23085774
>associating with 4chan can be career suicide
It's a place you can be aware of, but not talk about in any capacity unless you're already in some /trash/ niche, and even they don't associate with 4chan publicly any more. I've been trying to figure out for years how to capitalize on this shithole but it's not easy unless you're running identify management software and a dedicated shill campaign over weeks.

>>23085789
It's really a place only losers like F Gardner try to market to. Unless you're writing a schizo manifesto, this place is only somewhere to shoot the shit at

>>23085799
It boosts sales and has a subtle but strong effect on discussion in other places. There are a lot of eyes on here compared to the number of posters. Figure there are about 20 of us, given phone IPs. That's 250 lurkers or more, probably on the low side as this is a niche topic with incredibly low engagement. Marketing yourself directly is suicide, but things take off when they go through the meme engine, even if it's just a few incredibly apt jokes.

>>23085812
Even if it's 250 lurkers and thus eyeballs on your work, the audience is too diverse to be meaningful. Generously, let's say half are lit fic and half are genre fic readers. Half the genre fic lurkers again would want to read litrpg. Half of that would be interested in your specific premise. So like 30 readers.
30 readers, at the expense of being associated with one of the most toxic (mainstream) sites on the internet?
No, thank you.
Especially when 25 readers is a drop in the bucket of what you get when posting to places like RoyalRoad. Or Amazon, if that's your route.
Simply not worth it.
And not necessary. My stories took off without marketing anywhere, in any capacity. At least for web serials, the algorithms will take care of you if you write something fun.

/wwoym/ mogs the shit out of this place. I don't even understand the difference between the two, really. You should start a console war to drum up business.

>>23085853
/wwoym/ is just my diary desu.

>>23085858
you should get better material

>>23085853
/wwoym/ is largely depressive whiners talking about killing themselves. not much of that here in /wg/

>>23085822
are you that one anon who wrote a litrpg/progression fantasy thing where the MC was a huge muscular female homunculus?

>>23084853
To speak of the negro race, one cannot name them without naming their master.
Not the Jews, whose ships brought them to America, and to Europe.
Not their own people, who conquered the, selling them to the harsh slavery by which their real master controls them.
The master of the negro race, shall always remain as such, for it is the master which has been chosen for them, and which they have then accepted, thrusting their master higher then themselves, as both a race and a culture.
I speak of subjugation.
The negro race was entered to a bondage of their flesh, by their flesh, but even as chains were cast off, their minds became subjugated to the idea of subjugation.
They cling to the idea of oppression, that they cannot be held accountable for themselves, because in the past they were bound.
Now they see their master as responsible for them, as good soldier follows order, casting the blame onto their commander.
First their master was cruel to them, the white man, in their freeing, did not raise them to humanity, and treated them as beasts of burden, as less than men.
But now, in trying to right a wrong, the white race has bound themselves, and has brought themselves back to a state of viewing them as less than men, who cannot be held accountable for what they do as a result of what they are.
The dark elf may hold a darkness in them, an innate connection to evil that is only brought low by a binding to a new god, they must choose to lay aside their evil, no man may force them to be good.
Yet the negro man has set himself as the orc, imbibing ideas that their past must be settled before they would try for a future, and in this he has destroyed himself.
He has destroyed himself because of a refusal to understand ones past is not the arbitrator of ones fate.
The negro subjugates himself with a culture of death, of drugs, of all manner of vice that does not create, but drags them to a baser state where the pleasures of the flesh, and not the enlightenment of the mind, are their master.

>>23085822
>At least for web serials, the algorithms will take care of you if you write something fun.
Ebooks on amazon take a little more campaigning, that's why I was looking into how to seed a little more initial support. Or just buy plugs and reviews from talking heads and bloggers, that also works.

>>23062739
I've missed a whole thread, but I'm alive! Better still, I have crossed the halfway mark. At this point, I think my goal is to be done with this by Easter, if I can't get myself up to 1,500 or so words a day and finish quicker. I admittedly probably can't do that.

>>23084836
I'd practice with something simpler first. That's what I'm doing, with a relatively simple story *set* in the same universe as a much more complex one I'd like to tell. I want at least 1 novel and maybe 10 short stories under my belt before I dive into the big one. But even if that falters, I've designed the setting to be a springboard for any number of stories.

>>23084925
Read more, especially books widely known for having good prose.

>>23084955
I've heard romance marketed at women is the biggest goldmine. Just be prepared to write 50 Shades clone after 50 shades clone. The women who buy books like that want an abusive billionaire to borderline rape them. Personally, I wouldn't think too much about it.

>read McCarthy thrice 5 years ago
>prose has never recovered since then

How fast can you type?

>>23086097
Pretty fast considering I still hunt-and-peck, and have eschewed proper home row technique out of sheer spite.

>>23086101
Why would you be spiteful of that?

>>23085901
Uh...no? I already said I won't associate my work with 4chan, so that should have answered your question inherently

>>23086097
like 110-130 for general writing, 150-180 when doing something like monkeytype which is just simple words strung together w/o capitalization

>>23086127
How do you type so fast? How much do you practice?

>>23086097
~130 at full tilt. I rarely think or talk much faster than that these days.

I need a good term, possibly a neologism, to use as a title for a race of people - effectively Byzantines - who control an empire in continual decline and resurgence. Something evocative of a phoenix, even.

>>23086114
Because fuck commies, trying to tell me where I can put my fingers on the keyboard. I hover my hands diagonally across the keyboard and type faster than they can.

>>23086097
80 when i'm trying really hard to type fast but normally my typing speed is a lot lower

>>23086134
Practice? lol, none, just something i picked up

>>23086200
>monkeytype
I tested it again and got 69 and 72. I've gotten slower.

>>23086155
how about something to do with waves or tides

>>23086348
Chatgpt Gave me 'Elysian,' which is pretty much perfect for my purposes, so unless someone has a miraculously better term I'll probably go with that.

I'm not a fan of this sentence I wrote:
>The horns were smaller and the mouth became slightly agape. Its head tilted slightly upwards—it no longer extruded a presence of a menacing deity devoted in observation and control, rather one that would command the attention of a worshiper. The changes could be easily dismissed as a slight change in the day or a mistake in my memory, but a nagging feeling as subtle as a slight breeze bristling among the willow trees—present, but unnoticed unless deliberate, focused my eyes toward the size of its breasts.

Any suggestions?

>>23086411
"Mouth became slightly agape" is awkward.
"changes could be easily dismissed as a slight change" includes an awkward repetition.
Otherwise, it sounds really good. You did a good job, anon.

>>23086411
Off the rip:
>The statue of the Lord continued to hover high on the wall. As I continued to observe the caprine deity, a sense of unfamiliarity crept into my mind.
>There were changes to the statue: the horns had become smaller, the mouth slightly agape. Its head tilted slightly upwards, no longer projecting the presence of a menacing idol, devoted in its mission to observe and control. Rather, its new visage demanded attention from an absent flock.
>The changes could easily be dismissed as nothing more than a shifting of daylight, or a mistaken memory, but the uncanny, nagging sense that something had changed -- subtle as a breeze bristling through a willow tree, present but unnoticed except deliberately (probably delete this entire tangent desu) -- drew my eyes towards the proportions of its breasts.
>Though still prominent, its bust had shrunk slightly, with small, crooked indents etched along the surface in the shape of a square.

>>23086459
>>23086487
thank anons! That helped a lot

>>23086411
>hoover

>>23086411
>The statue of the Lord continued to hoover high on the wall.
lmao

"Body Image Perceptions" (Edited)
https://pastebin.com/SrQzf9WK

A satirical monologue of a 600-lb man

I'm a court reporter, and I jot down what goes on in Grand Jury hearings. The stories can be a bit scary. The audio is about 40 minutes long, and it's kind of random. You can't really make a whole book out of it. But I want to write about these experiences while keeping things private due to the NDA. How should I go about it? Should I use dialogues or Q&A? What's the best approach?

>>23086857
You really have the creativity of a tape recorder

>>23086879
is that good, bad? What could I write from it?

>>23086814
Are you really 270kg ?

>>23086982
Would a particular answer impact the feedback either way? (But no, I'm not - unless that would help.)

it's time for you to die motherfucker

now, old friend.
i know you didn't mean to insult me
that's why im going to give you the opportunity to take back everything you've said

>>23086857
just fictionalize the stories like nic pizzolato

can i talk to Travis?

Mmm. I love the taste of nigger dick!

So I was thinking but then I decided not.

Do any of you write under the influence if so do you think it helps or hinders?

>>23087581
So far I've never done that because I think it'd be a hindrance. Even if it did help writing, it would not be a good choice in the long run.

>>23087581
Alcohol, and yes it helps immensely.
I feel that I have a crippling choice issue, which is to say that I overthink my every action and it slows me down.
Drinking dulls my mind, slowing me down enough that I can more easily get from thought to type.
The important thing is that I never edit while under the influence.

I just finished the draft of book 2, chapter 21.

hello /wg/, today i start my career as a writer. what's in store for me?

>>23087905
PENIS.

>>23087905
So you've sold something? Can you live off of the money?

>>23087948
it doesn't imply i've made money.

>>23087905
statistically speaking you won't make more than 10 sales, much less a career out of it

>>23087989
It's an awfully odd career that doesn't make enough money for you to live on. Maybe you should use the word "hobby".

>>23088017
you can't answer my question, but maybe someone else can.

>>23088051
Maybe once you explain why you consider it a career, and not a hobby, if you can't support yourself with the money you make from it.

>>23088127
"maybe" what? it's not on me to explain the nuances of starting a career. and you've already established yourself as useless. you may excuse yourself now.

>>23088180
you got your answers though. what you can expect from your career is to not make any money with it. have you even published any novels yet or are you just being annoying

>>23088191
>>23088127
you going to share your work? i want to know who's trying to tell me how things work out there.

>published
>sales
come on now. i'm asking the money makers. the royal road chads. what the fuck did you think i was talking about?
novels!? actually lol'd

>>23088180
There's no nuance between a hobby and a career. The latter makes enough money for you to live on, and the former doesn't. Are you really starting a career as a writer, or not?
>>23088232
This isn't a pyw moment. I'm not claiming to have a career as a writer. I'm not even asking you to pyw, just to share the details of how you're able to live off the money you make from your writing. Based on my experience, you're either a troll (and an unimaginative one at that), or someone who's fallen for a predatory vanity press.

>>23088245
>There's no nuance between a hobby and a career. The latter makes enough money for you to live on, and the former doesn't.
this is the sort of retard trying to lecture me on nuance.

>>23088273
>admits to trolling
I accept your concession.

>>23088280
a hobbyist can't make money from selling books? there's no difference between starting and establishing a career? do you understand how stupid you sound?
it's not on me to disprove every stupid thing you say.
anyway, i wasn't asking the bitter failure anon, i was asking the career anon.

>>23088289
>cope and deflection
The sad part is that your "writing" is likely to be similarly unimaginative and uninspired.

>>23088310
>ignored all my questions, virtually begging for me to close it out
yea, dude. you're really sticking it to me. shit, i know i came in here asking question, but if you need any more concepts or words explained to you, i guess we could keep it up.

>if you try and fail, try try-- it was a hobby all along

>>23088323
You didn't provide enough information to answer your question. I merely asked if it was a hobby and not a career, and you had a coping, deflecting meltdown. But if it's a career, the answer will depend on what sort of writing career you claim to have. Are you a journalist for a small-town newspaper? Are you a junior editor for a publishing house? Are you writing listicles for Buzzfeed? Are you a showrunner for a new series on a streaming network? What's in store for you depends strongly on what sort of writing career you're claiming to have. Since you have offered nothing along those lines, and have chosen to deflect artlessly, the chances are very high that you're just a mindless troll, stupidly believing that anonymity is going to prevent you from getting your ass handed to you.

>>23088378
why do you presume to know anything, if you're a failure whom i'm forced to explain things to? you either know or you don't. really, who the fuck are you? we're supposed to ignore the fact that you've incorrectly presumed so much, and are dug into to your assumption that you could ever provide any useful information to me in any capacity. no thanks.

>>23088428
OK, then here's your answer...since you literally know nothing about your writing career, the inevitable result is total failure, and quickly.

>>23088454
>i have to fill out a survey for some unqualified pseud on 4chan before i'm allowed to ask questions
sorry, i didn't know the rules

>got into writing poetry a year ago
>go over poetry i’ve written since
>30% are about different kinds of toothpaste
>30% are about inconveniences that have happened to me
>remaining 40% are curses to rupi kaur

At what point should I start branching out in subjects for poems?

>>23088862
Never. I'll be waiting for anon's anthology "Toothpaste, Trouble, and Rupi Kaur"

>>23087905
Rainbows and avocados, my man. If you're serious about the adventure, diversify your income streams. Haters are going to hate, creators are going to create.

>>23084646
I talk to the cats in my neighborhood now. I tried to pet a neighbress' cat when she invited me in for coffee but he jumped away. My pen broke so I can't continue working on my book because I am such a pen-fetishist that I only want to write with my fountain pen. Ballpens seem too cheap for my efforts. I am chilling a lot this season because it's - in temperate climate's terms - cold but not freezing. As for typing, I am 7200 words in this month, which is very lackluster.

Not sure what the hell happened here, but I'm still gonna ask for feedback/advice on my writing.

Tell me when you stop reading and why:

https://www.royalroad.com/fiction/81676/lossy-jurisdiction

>>23088928
I stop reading after paragraph number one. The 'deciding-to-punch-the-picture' but not punching it reveals the protagonist to not be an action-taker, and from scanning paragraph two and three, it is revealed that he or she is an analyzer or an introspectivist. The action does not even have to be as blunt as being combattoir, but it's the fact that he wants to but doesn't do it, whatever it is, that stops me from reading.

>>23088946
I mean, punching pictures won't do anyone much good, but forgetting I'd want to punch as I'm punching: that's not a character I think I can learn from.

>>23088951
He gave a bizarro complaint anyway kek

>>23088952
What, I? I've been in that state: to be fully ready and willing and wanting to punch an object, but not going through with it and exiting the scene. It makes one at loss, because I took the effort to come up to the scene in order to punch, so that was energy invested in action that didn't happen. That's got to be prevented. Either don't go and save myself the energy, or I go and I punch.

>>23088966
Don't worry, I'm not questioning your tastes or feelings, I'm just saying that he wanted critique on his form and style. Obviously if I were to read it I'd say "Stopped reading at first sentence because I don't read genre fiction." but that wouldn't be helpful.
Either way your answer was entertaining.

>>23088980
Oh but he also added the qualifier 'Tell me when you stop reading and why'! Thank you though.

First of all, I've already lost track of who is who so I will just be talking to >>23088951

I am aware I said to stop and tell me why but, friend, the protagonist's hands are injured... that contradicts your analysis. He wanted to do something but was incapable of doing so. Wants to escape The Army but cannot. Already took action and can not longer take any more.

Now you can say that he is pretty stupid to have forgotten that-- I would say he simply has a hard time accepting his own mortality and 'forgot' it intentionally-- but to simply call him 'not an action taker' for deciding not to injure his hands any further seems wrong to me. One of the first lines, as well, is
>>...Now the damage was awesome from what you can call a last stand

Which implies that he is at the end of rope so even if his hands were not injured it would be more that he was too exhausted to do any more.

I appreciate your feedback! I never thought that it could be seen from that angle.

>>23089010
Okay, no, not >>23088951
I meant,
>>23088946
This is a mess, sorry.

I'm having a hard time tempering my expectations. I know my writing is supposed to suck because I have only just started out and haven't written anything other than assorted snippets, but having rather high standards from reading a lot of literature by established professional writers really does seem rather detrimental here. I can't help but automatically compare my writings to the works of said authors, and the disparity in quality is definitely disheartening. This in turn discourages me from writing altogether, preventing me from getting proper practice in.

>>23088928
wanna be added to the pastebin?

>>23088951
>I mean
gayest way to start a sentence

>>23089020
I would recommend you read some published slop. It’s quite heartening yet dismal to see the prose of those who can get published.

>>23089020
Just write, ya turkey.

>>23089010
That seems to me to be valid reasoning. I never punched so much that I couldn't punch anymore, let alone being under The Army orders. That has to be a lot of damage his hands took. When you delve into the accepting mortality idea, that's also logical: in a post-Nietzschean world, everybody wants to die and not fully be until they're dying, right then they have a hard time accepting death. When it turns out to not be that bad and that consciousness is everlasting, people are happy at a second chance (even though they've died many times before) or are disappointed that they are not fully 'gone'. The path to fulfillment is long. Good endeavors on your writing, Anon!

>>23089023
If more people can see my writing like that, then yes. I need all the feedback/advice possible.

>>23089020
Remember that what you're reading is likely edited too. The art of exposing thoughts and feelings and actions onto paper stands at its own: it is another art to edit, another art to form a rational argument, another art to relativize, another art to write a poem, another art to read. If you want to read, read: if you want to write, write. Don't be discouraged, because after reading you can write about what you have read. Your own ideas are unique to you only: they're kind of like your DNA or soul written out on paper, no matter how clumsily they may be worded.

>>23089043
welcome to the pastebin anon. ill give your story a read and try to leave some comments to boost your engagement later

>>23089029
Thanks, but I don't engage in man-to-man-sexual-affairs. I am pretty happy where I am though, because 'gay' used to mean 'happy', so thanks for seeing my happiness and contendness,

>>23087630
Alcohol is a crutch...one which can quickly destroy your life. Just look at Hemingway.

>>23089035
This will be my new desktop wallpaper.

>>23089071
>Just look at Hemingway
He had a pretty bitchin' life thobeit.

>>23089079
Nas' 'Life's a B*tch' comes to mind.

>>23084646
Do all first drafts look so awful? I was just reading mine and I feel like burning it. The story itself isn't bad, but the style and structure are terrible, almost illegible.

>>23089089
Yea. For some, it's barely more than an outline. You might even have multiple iterations before an editor or anyone else sees it.

>>23089089

Post an excerpt, if you will, otherwise I can only give you the most generic 'revise, revise, revise' and 'rome wasn't built in a day' advice. Or I may even be tempted to whisper sweet nothings to you and say 'you're probably doing better than most other writers.'

Even if it is a sentence, I can get a taste of your style. Even if you just want to give a plot summary, I can get a taste of how you handle and draft stories. Even if you just give a word count, I can have an idea of how far in you are to this whole thing which can alter how I give feedback.

But if you don't want to do any of that, friend, then I just give you this very obvious advice: 'keep writing.'

https://pastebin.com/7bainx9X

Thoughts on this short story I recently rewrote?

>>23089182
Your writing skill is definitely passable. The first line is a bit awkward, but I know you needed to clue the reader in on what was happening. I think "We have to see it!" Might have been more natural, but it's not too much of a complaint. The primary issue is that the story itself was uninteresting, but I guess you were trying to get feedback on your writing skill.
Either way, you're definitely good enough to write at the Royal Road level.

>>23089182 #
Your writing skill is definitely passable. The first line is a bit awkward, but I know you needed to clue the reader in on what was happening. I think "We have to see it!" Might have been more natural, but it's not too much of a complaint. The primary issue is that the story itself was uninteresting, but I guess you were trying to get feedback on your writing skill (not necessarily to show off a story).
Either way, you're definitely good enough to write at the Royal Road level and certainly a better writer than I.

>>23089230
Fair enough, thanks.

I’m starting chapter 22 now.

>>23089079
Despite alcohol, not because of it.

>>23088928
It's unreadable. Your sentences are deranged.
An example picked at random:
> The whole place was in disarray– not just the room I mentioned, but even the hallway I walked to get there because there was, although I wouldn’t call myself a huge documenter, a certain amount of manifests required to prove validity of certain objects that I have acquired, if my meaning is clear.
Like what the fuck, man? Every sentence is like a rubik's cube covered in shit.

>>23089071
I'm the one you actually replied to.
I haven't drank since mid January, since I haven't been to the liquor store on account of a lack of drivers license (due to health issues, not anything else I've done) and feeling like it would be a waste to buy a couple of bottles when I have so little in the bank.
Only once did I get black out drunk, and since that one time, I have paced myself due to the fear of what I might say without even remembering it.
I am fully aware of the dangers of it, my uncle who came to live with us for a few months died suddenly after a long life of drinking and smoke, and I've also been offered, but always refused, hard drugs, due to watching people I knew destroy their lives with them.

>>23089182
>https://pastebin.com/7bainx9X
That wasn't Cortez and the Aztecs. It was Chris Columbus with the Tainos.

Your story is more of a single scene than a short story.

>>23089487
Sorry, I'm aware that I write very purple sometimes, but I thought it reflected the state the character was in and, since he is the first person narrator, I had to change the writing to compliment that. It becomes simple during simple emotions of pain and fear and then complex when, well, there are more complex feelings such as isolation or in this case when he is 'deranged' which he is. He has a mental break down a few paragraphs later and it is written like this but even more nonsensical.

So I understand that, but, friend, I think saying 'It's unreadable' is untrue. Do you mean to tell me that you *literally* do not understand the excerpt you picked? Not that it is hard to understand, I get that, but that you, a native english speaker, simply do not understand what is being said? Come on now, you must be exaggerating, friend.

But, if this is really true and you do not understand it, I guess I could've written it like this:

>The whole place was in disarry. Not only the room I've mentioned, but the hallway as well. This is because I am a bit of a documentor, although I don't like to say that I am a particuarly large one. I somewhat acquired that title from the various manifests and such I am required to keep to prove the validity of certain items that I have taken from certain places.

However that sounds a bit stiff and very unlike what someone who is injured, "alone," and fleeing from a large miltary force in a broken vessel that doesn't even have electrical lights-- he uses candles to see on a *spaceship*-- would say in that situation. I think the original wording was capable of being understood, not that it was easy. And because of that, and because it reflects the character, I do intend to leave it in.

This research is going to kill me. I hope it's worth it.

>>23089447
No the alcohol was definitely a key component. Take those plane crashes for example. Probably would've killed him if he wasn't wasted.

>>23089089
Yes. It takes a lot more reflection, because there are so many moving parts to good writing. Be patient. Don't try to fix everything at once, try to prioritize.

>>23085058
owl and cat look like cousins

Been writing this story for about six months. I suppose it is flash fiction heavily under the influence of T S Eliot and all the other great artists like him. Here is a sample, do critique with the full powers you have:

The grown-ups saw the little ones. They wondered who the little ones were. They looked at them and pushed them, played games and made jokes with them. Then one of them said that the little man was writing a paper that might get us rejected and that they began to done unspeakable things to him. When the little man returned from surgery regarding as the Seton, he met three people: a wise man, a black man, and a man named Michael Crichton. This is the cultural flowering of the outcast tribe of Irish political cosmopolitans taking it to the next level of what it really means to be in your own country. God told these people to teach this little man another lesson. That little man's name was Arnold Breker. One day he will make statues that will make you weep for their Sturheit in radikaler Ausprägung in ihren angestammten Einrichtungen, die sich über den rassischen Abgrund hinaus hin erstrecken, und wer kann es ihnen VERANTWORTLICHEN?

>come up with basic premise
>have beginning and ending figured out
>make a bunch of characters and vague scene ideas
>plot out a course with these scenes trying to connect them from the start to the end
Am I outlining right?

Ok what baron must I go to in order of b published in a book?
I can do that right???

>>23089597
>Sorry, I'm aware that I write very purple sometimes,
It's not purple prose. Purple prose is flowery and extravagant. Your prose has a lack of focus and tortured syntax.

>So I understand that, but, friend, I think saying 'It's unreadable' is untrue. Do you mean to tell me that you *literally* do not understand the excerpt you picked?
I said it was unreadable, not that I couldn't understand it. Unreadable, as in it's so grotesque that no one will read more than a paragraph before tossing it aside.

>I guess I could've written it like this:
You've chopped it up with more full stops, but it's still the same problem.
>My quarters were stuffed with old logbooks and manifests.
That's it. That's all you have to say. We know what manifests are, no reason to define the word. We don't have to be told he's a "documenter" if his room is full of papers and shit, because it's obvious from context.

>>23090167
Polish your manuscript and prepare to query 50+ agents.

>>23090010
No, that's wrong, you're doing it wrong. Do it different.

>>23090010
There is no 'right' way to perform any creative process.
That said what you're doing is pretty typical
Whatever gets you to your final product, brother

>>23090176
How do I find agents

>had a lot of free time today, was planning on writing
>accidentally read Harry potter and the methods of rationality for 4 hours straight
Help this keeps happening

>>23089838
If it's about pedophile jews it will never be published.

coward

How do u come up with a title?

>>23090587
Find the most commonly used phrase or pair of words in the story

>>23090654
"The"

>>23088928
I dropped it at the tags below the title, which include "space opera". I don't want to deal with this kind of autism. It's like those indie game devs whose first project is an "MMO". You should start by learning how to write a coherent, engaging synopsis.

>>23089182
A very relatable scene, but as the other anon said, it's just a scene, not a short story. The moon thing doesn't connect in any way with the characters' confessions of love in the end, which makes it pointless and amateurish.

>>23090691

Friend, you say
>I dropped it at the tags below the title

And then,

>You should start by learning how to write a coherent, egnaging sypnopsis

So, friend, where did you stop? At the tags or the synopsis? And if you stopped at the synopsis I would very much like some feedback on why rather than 'I dropped it at the tags' which to me sounds like you didn't read the synopsis and yet... claimed, strangely, that that was the problem. Friend you elude me. If you do not like space opera leave it at that and nothing more, do not claim that some aspect of the work-- which you have not read-- is poorly written.

>>23090712
Excuse me for misquoting you. You did not say 'egnaging ' I just misspelled it when manually copying that quotation.

>>23090712
Anon, you seem to have brain problems, so let me be perfectly clear with you. When I said I dropped it straight at the tags, it was a lie. A way to say that, in my heart, I gave up on the story there. But I also did look over the synopsis, since I couldn't exactly not see it there on the same page. However, I didn't put real attention into it because it was poorly written and not interesting. Does that help you sleep better?

Now, before you ask for an in-depth analysis on why the synopsis was bad, I'll tell you to do your own homework and google how to write a proper synopsis. You clearly haven't done that, and there are many, many guides. If you can't do that, you won't understand me either. This isn't of the level where I'm willing to invest more time and effort.

>>23090712
God, you're retarded

>>23090270
Look for databases or agency sites. You can search for agents who represented authors similar to you. They are less important if you are publishing outside of the US, but they are mandatory to get a deal with the big NY publishers.
>>23090587
Read more titles and get a feel for it. The title should help convey a first impression, try to set expectations for genre, tone and the theme or conflict.

If you were fluent in two or more languages, would you write the translations of your own book?

>>23091289
>>23091289
>>23091289